Thursday, October 23, 2008

For my own dear Sarah...If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt youBut make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master;If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;If you can meet with triumph and disasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winningsAnd risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breath a word about your loss;If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;If all men count with you, but none too much;If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run--Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Poor Sarah has been in so much pain recently from three stubborn wisdom teeth that had been insisting on coming in. They still were beneath her gum, but in such a short time, had already started to misalign her front teeth.

So, just a few days ago, she went in for surgery to have all three removed. She was required to have an IV and be put under during the procedure, which I'm sure was a blessing in disguise!

She is still in a lot of pain, and quite a bit loopy from the medication she is on, but I know she will soon be as good as new again. I can't help teasing her about the "chipmunk cheeks" she has acquired from swelling in the area where the procedure occured! ☺

Sarah didn't realize that her surgeon's last name was Dr. Fear until she had arrived home after the first consultation with him. We all couldn't help laughing...

Thursday, October 16, 2008

I can't really remember the first time I stumbled upon Winnie Foster, but I do remember wishing that I could weave a story as beautifully as Natalie Babbitt did with this one. Her words are mesmerizing and pull you in as the plot unfolds. By the end of the book, you can only wish there was more to this beautiful story...Sometimes you never grow too old for those few special childhood fairytales.Without further ado, an excerpt...

The first week of August hangs at the top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are the strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after.

One day at that time, not so very long ago, three things happened and at first there appeared to be no connection between them...

Friday, October 10, 2008

The spicy, vivid tone of Autumn is in the air. As my feet trace a well-worn path along our red dirt road, studded with the shapes of mismatched stones, I can only marvel at the beauty God has created. My breath catches in my throat, as the wind softly whispers through the pale, golden-y yellow of leaves that again cap the fine, slender trunks of the young trees that sporadically dot the countryside.

Fall has come once again.

I can't understand how anyone can dislike the quiet serenity that seems to come hand in hand with it. When I think of fall, I think of deep books, intricate knitting projects, pumpkins, apple cider, and pies...among so many other things.

It seems refreshing in some small way to pull out the cooler weather wardrobe you have stored away--the well-worn purple jacket you've worn since you were eleven, the new bolero you've only worn once or twice, the obstinate mate to a pair of shoes that actually has laces. It's sweetly sorrowful to pull on for one last time that lovely summer piece of clothing you had such fun in one day.

Nights are cool, and, as usual, Autumn's fingerprint seems especially icy on my spine. My mint-green down blanket has been stored away in my closet over the summer, and is beginning to look mighty fine indeed. Nothing like a down blanket or three to keep you snug as a bug.

It has been a tough year. I know--and have to believe--that one day soon good times will be peeking around the corner at me again. In some ways, though it is hard to explain, I am as thankful for the difficult times as I am the light-hearted ones. In some unspeakable way, trying times have always drawn the hearts of people closer together, and it has done no less in my own life.

So, yes...this is a fine day, because I am alive and well, with a roof over my head, my God in my heart, and a family that unflinchingly cares for me. One fine day builds upon the next, until they become as a string of fine, dewy pearls in my memory.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Carlatagged me for this ever-so-random meme.Here are six random items about myself...what are a few items from your life?* * * * * * * * *

1.Ice cream, especially Breyer's, is my very favorite-est of desserts.

2. I prefer quite large purses/bags to small ones. That way I can stuff them full of all of the items I just might need. You never know when a situation will arise when you'll be able to work through three books, a knitting project or two, or maybe an essay. ☺

3. I prefer even numbers to odd.

4. I have extra small fingernails. I always looked forward to the day when I would finally have "grown-up" nails like my Mom's...but it's never happened. *sigh*

5. I've always had such a wide variety of interests. Some of my "hope-to-be's" over the years have been: a gymnast, singer, astronomer, writer, nurse, musical therapist, pianist, etc., etc., etc. To tell you the truth, most of these are still on my list!

6. Geology is my favorite college class.

You are supposed to tag several other people for this meme, but just about everyone I could think of has already been tagged by one person or another, so...if you think this meme looks interesting, feel free to try it on your own blog! Consider yourself "officially" tagged! ☺

Friday, October 3, 2008

Not only do Sarah and I love watching our favorite old films together, we also enjoy reading vintage movie magazines we've had the fun of hunting down in antique shops or online. I love to scour the musty, yellowed pages for outfits I'd like to copy someday, or to laugh at the funny vintage ads that seem so unbelievable by modern standards. Even in something as "wordly" as a movie magazine, it is so refreshing to see how often good standards and morals rule the pages.

I thought you might enjoy catching a glimpse of some of the adorable stars that graced the covers of these classic magazines I stumbled across today. Which ones are your favorites?

It seems almost an impossibility to me how anyone can look forward to living their life out in the same place and doing the same things that their fathers and grandfathers did before them. Today as I think of what the world is and that I have my life before me, nothing seems impossible. I wish that as in the story books, some fairy might place the mirror of life before me and tell me to look at whatever scene I wished. Yet if it could be so, I can hardly say but I should close my eyes and refuse to look. How many have wished and wondered about the mysterious future as I do, and yet if the curtain were permitted to be drawn aside, would shrink from doing it for fear of gazing upon rugged rocks and yawning graves, in place of the velvety paths they wished for.